Bitter Medicine

Israel-bashing in medical journals.

1) The British Medical Journal – hailed by the Financial Times as 'one of the world's top four general medical journals' – included in its Oct. 16 issue an article entitled 'Palestine: The assault on health and other war crimes.' The author, Dr. Derrick Summerfield, compares the IDF's acts to those of the 9/11 terrorist hijackers:

The Israeli army, with utter impunity, has killed more unarmed Palestinian civilians since September 2000 than the number of people who died on September 11, 2001.

The only actual similarity between the two is the death count – approximately 3,000. Summerfield labels all Palestinian casualties 'unarmed civilians' – denying the fact that (1) the clear majority of Palestinians who have died since September 2000 were terrorists and armed combatants (according to the Institute for Counter-Terrorism), and (2) no Palestinian civilian has been deliberately killed 'with impunity' – in stark contrast to 9/11.

Summerfield goes on claim that since some Palestinian minors have died from wounds to the upper body and head:

Clearly, soldiers are routinely authorised to shoot to kill children in situations of minimal or no threat.

Beyond falsely branding Israel as guilty of 'war crimes,' deliberate child-killing, illegal colonization and apartheid, the article makes absolutely no mention of how Palestinian terror and political corruption have contributed to the unfortunate state of the Palestinian heath system.

If you agree this article is inappropriate for a respected medical journal, send comments to British Medical Journal editor Kamran Abbasi: click here

2) The June 2004 edition of Diabetes Voice, a quarterly publication of the International Diabetes Federation, included a report on that disease in the Gaza Strip. Here's the abstract, which appeared in bold print at the top of the article:

The year 2003 marked the 55th anniversary of the Nakba (cataclysm) of the Palestinian people. In 1948, according to the United Nations Conciliation Commission, 760,000 Palestinians were evicted from their cities and villages, hundreds of which were razed to the ground. What remains of the Palestinian people's land is now split between the West Bank of the river Jordan and Qita Ghazzah (Gaza Strip), and remains occupied by Israeli military forces and settlers. In 2003, the second uprising, or Al-Aqsa Intifada against this occupation entered its third year. Panagiotis Tsapogas, Medical Co-ordinator of the Greek section of Mdecins Sans Frontires (Doctors Without Borders) in Gaza, 2002-2003, reports on the difficulties faced by Palestinian people with diabetes in Gaza, and makes a call for the provision of improved diabetes care in the region.

NGO-Monitor, which promotes accountability of non-governmental organizations active in the Mideast conflict, responded:

This short abstract consists of a blatantly political attack that has little or nothing to do with diabetes. The one-sided and highly distorted version of history that is presented is based on the Palestinian version of events and vocabulary, and immorally ignores the brutality of Palestinian terrorism. It is also entirely inconsistent with the goals proclaimed by Diabetes Voice, the International Diabetes Federation, and Medecins Sans Frontires.

The International Diabetes Federation (known, ironically, as the IDF) published an official apology for the abstract quoted above, and the editor-in chief of the journal resigned over the matter. The abstract was re-written for the publication's archived, website version of the article.

Not only medical journals have contributed to this disturbing trend of inserting anti-Israel rhetoric into ostensibly neutral academic literature.

Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors, included an update on Palestinian universities in its Sept.-Oct. 2004 issue (see it here - scroll down to the grey box). While lamenting the 'infamous 'segregation wall'' and roadblocks that limit access to Palestinian schools, author Mary Gray cites Ramallah's BirZeit University as an example.

Gray gives no explanation whatsoever why Israel implemented these strictures – to deny terrorists free access to Israel. Moreover, Gray ignores the fact that BirZeit is one of the very centers of Palestinian incitement to terror -- Hamas won a recent student body election there by featuring exploding models of Israeli buses and claims of prowess based on its success in killing more Israelis than the other parties.

If you agree that this review of the state of Palestinian higher education lacked appropriate balance, send comments to Academe: academe@aaup.org

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About the Author

HonestReporting, with 140,000 members, is the largest organization fighting media bias in the Middle East conflict. In 2006, HonestReporting launched Media Central, a Jerusalem center providing support services for foreign journalists in Israel and the region.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 4

(4)
Matthew,
October 27, 2004 12:00 AM

When peace will arrive

For all of the years that fighting and terrorism have taken place in the Middle East, it is clear that the only time Peace will arrive is when both sides decide that they've "had enough" of the fighting, bloodshed, and other horrors that have gone along the situation.
When children are being transported to schools, while at the same time wondering if their bus will arrive safely, or fall victim to another terrorist attack, THAT is bad.
When adults are sorely concerned that their children may not have the opportunity to grow to adulthood, THAT is bad.
When human life becomes worthless, as seems to happen in some locales, THAT is also bad.
All parties will have to come to the conference table, and be willing to make peace. Sometimes, it will mean simply deciding that there will be no killing...TODAY! And then do the same thing the next day...and the day after...and so forth. That's one way to at least start the process of obtaining peace.
It is quite possible that all sides may have to give up something, somewhere along the way. FINE. DO IT! Living in peace and harmony is worth the price.

Until they agree to that, there will never be peace in the Middle East, and the "cradle of civilization" may well turn out to be it's grave, too.

(3)
Beverly Kurtin, Ph.D.,
October 27, 2004 12:00 AM

The price of truth

Heaven forbid that people like Mary Gray should ever see the truth; it would destroy them. These self-righteous "academics" who puff themselves up without the slightest concern for the truth reveal their true identities: Anti-Semites of the first degree.

Ms. Gray might flinch at that appellation, but there it is in her own smug pronouncements that Israel has a "segregation barrier" failing to bother about asking, as a true academic must, why the fence had to be built in the first place and what it is truly about.

She glibly denounces the destruction of olive groves without mentioning, again, why they had to be uprooted. Does she not have any sense of how important trees are to Israel and to the Jewish soul? Why would Israelis destroy a tree? Surely not to protect themselves from Arabs who find no shame in shooting unarmed civilians from the cover of those trees.
<I've lived in academia and have learned first hand that most academics are open to all points of view. I have a deep respect for true academics. We need them; they contribute more to society than any of us can imagine. However, the Mary Grays who masquerade as academics deserve not our contempt, they deserve our ridicule. "Academics" like her, if exposed to truth, shrivel up and die as roaches die in the presence of poison.

Is this really a polemic attack on her? Nope. It is as accurate a description of her as is her description of the Arab-Israeli situation.

(2)
Catherine,
October 25, 2004 12:00 AM

South African comment on Apartheid vs Middle East

I am South African. I think I understand Apartheid more readilly than a European/American.... no parallel can be drawn between Apartheid and the Middle East conflict and I would like to suggest that The reference to Aprtheid be used responsibly, i.e. by those who fully understand what it entailed. This movement was a deliberate race based issue targeting the natives of this land - whose land was SNATCHED from them (not bought at a price), during the struggle for liberation unlike Israel the ANC did not strap bombs on their Youth and target civilian. Current Land Reform projects aim to redistribute land at no cost to the original owners (descendants thereof) ... unlike Israel purchasing land. Furthermore ... we have Mandela who offered peace and prosperity and paved the way for a rainbow nation, Israel is under constant threat from a fraction who have publically declared there objective to destory Israel.

(1)
Joan k. Betesh,
October 24, 2004 12:00 AM

Protect Israel in the medical community

Neither Presidential candidate can help Israel long-term if there is anti-Israel sentiment overwhelms Europe.

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Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

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